KLASSWAGEN DID IT TO ME AND I’M FIGHTING BACK
In August, I booked a small car from KlassWagen through Booking.com
The car was
to be picked up at Lisbon airport for driving through Portugal.
The price
was a very favorable $201.09 for the car and $119.81 for full coverage
insurance protection (from a third-party provider, who notified KlassWagen that
I had this coverage for the temporary use of their property.)
I did not
sleep well the day before my trip, nor did I sleep during the transcontinental flight. I also
managed to lose my reading glasses in transit.
So I was
sleep deprived, shaken and five time zones from my normal equilibrium when the
shuttle took me to KlassWagen in dreadful darkness to the KlassWagen compound
about 15 minutes from Lisbon’s airport.
I arrived at
6 a.m. Friday September 13. The representative, who said he was from New Jersey
but spoke Portuguese, had fine English. I note this because KlassWagen cannot
claim it was a language barrier issue.
The rep said,
“do you want to keep the insurance you booked” and I said yes.
And he
pulled out a paper for me to sign and initial.
I wanted to
review it, but had lost my glasses.
I said,
“this was the coverage pre-arranged and purchased from Booking.com, right?” and
he nodded and made sure I signed/initialed.
In all
fairness, the car performed well, it was clean at pick up, it had a gadget that
made toll booths easy and the staff was polite when I returned it.
But when I
reviewed my credit card bills from Portugal shortly after getting back to Miami
– I saw the scam.
There was an
extra $335.15 charge from KlassWagen. That is more than double the cost of an
unlimited miles rental of a brand new car driven for 12 long days!
I sent an
email for clarification and they said it was for their brand of full insurance coverage.
I wrote back that I booked coverage in advance and that showed up on their
paperwork a month before I arrived.
They wrote
back that as I “benefitted from their coverage” during the rental, so there was
no refund.
I wrote back that it was a fraud.
That no one in his right mind would have pay for full
coverage though a Booking.com subcontractor -- then pay double the rental
amount to KlassWagen.
I got the
form letter fake friendly “we care about you” reply, but a firm, too bad, so
sad, “you’re not getting a penny back” reply.
I again note
that Travel Troubleshooter/Consumer Advocate Christopher Elliott writes
frequently that secretive, devious, unneeded insurance charge scams are
prevalent in the auto rental industry – to the tune of hundreds of millions of
dollars earned from cheated customers.
I messaged
one more time that I am aware of the sneaky ways they tack on unwanted,
horribly expensive insurance on weak, tired, bullied customers.
They restated
that I will not be getting a refund.
After exhausting
every way of politely, then firmly, then pointedly demanding a refund for the
fraud perpetrated, I now am filling out forms, gathering receipts, printing out
email trails and stating my case to Visa, my credit card company.
I have no
doubt that KlassWagen will lie and produce the (tiny type) document that I
signed without the benefit of reading glasses, at the urging of their employee
who stated that it was no extra charge, it was confirming what I booked in
advance (for a fraction of their markup.)
It is my
duty to warn anyone headed to Portugal, or any other market KlassWagen operates
in, to beware of its double, duplicative insurance fraud.
If by some
miracle they finally turn honest and refund my money, I will post an update.
